Tuesday, 24 July 2012

Despite it is seemingly that eco-friendly candles are often more expensive than artificial wax candles, beeswax candles are still popular in certain parts of the world. The natural honey aroma and long lasting features allow beeswax candles truly as superb gifts for you, your beloved family and friends.

Some of the beautiful candles not only boost your great mood but also create becoming ambiance to any interior space that you desire. With so ample choices available nowadays, it's not that tough for every candle lover to find his/her favorites.

By using beeswax, the candle creators can play with it and produce almost any kind of candles within their imagination and creativity. Some of the candles that I found interesting are these beeswax candles made by Big Dipper Wax Works, which just look like star, bird, love...

Beeswax Star Pillar Candles

Beeswax Heart Pillar Candles

Beeswax Song Bird Candles

Beeswax Pumpkin Candles

Beeswax Ornament Candles

They would really be wonderful decorations at home especially on any celebration!

Monday, 16 July 2012

Beeswax tea
light candles are seemly used on most occasions from formal weddings
to home parties. They are also perfectly lit to enhance the ambiance
in your home especially the dining area and your rooms. In truth, you
can buy beeswax tea light candles from the local shops or online
stores. Allowing for the ease of making as well as cost saving, some
frequent consumers are willing to learn and attempt to make their own
ones. Making tea light candles is not only fun but you can also
control the quality of the candles by using pure beeswax. The
information below is to guide you what to use and follow throughout
the process of a successful beeswax tea light candle making.

Place the
desired amount of beeswax into a Pyrex measuring cup. Put the
measuring cup into a pot and then fill the pot with water about
halfway full the cup. Now you can start heating the pot on high heat
until the water inside the pot boils. Let the beeswax liquefies
thoroughly. After shut off the fire source, carefully remove the
measuring cup from the pot by using a hot pad or oven mitt as the
measuring cup is very hot after heating. Prepare the tea light cups
close to each other on a level surface and add an individual cotton
wick into them. After that, secure every wick with a clothespin to
hold the wick in place. Now, you can pour the melted beeswax into
each tea light cup until the edge of the cup is reached without
overspill. After filling all the prepared tea light cups, leave them
for approximately 1-2 hours or until the beeswax becomes solid.
Lastly, take out the clothespins and cut each wick to about 1 cm
before use.

Tips &
warnings:

-Ensure children
are away from your workplace especially while you are handling the
hot melted beeswax to avoid any unwanted injury or accident.

-Pouring the
melted beeswax into the tea light cups through a funnel provides an
easier and cleaner way in this step.

-Place a box lid
underneath the tea light cups just in case any overflow accidentally
happens while pouring the melted beeswax. This approach can save you
from cleaning your workplace later.

-Do not remove
the tea light cups from the candles, so that the candles can melt
completely when lit.

Tuesday, 10 July 2012

This is the book I recommended for reading if you would like to learn deeper about beeswax. As the book title stated, this book was written about the production of beeswax by all honeybees species, the approaches taken by beekeepers to harvest beeswax, the methods used in processing beeswax and also how it is used to make some final products like candles, lotion, polishes...

A really, really good book! Combines comprehensive discussion
of the composition and properties of beeswax with practical advice on its
refinement and use, especially in the manufacture of candles. If
"Beeswax" were updated I imagine it would include the latest on pesticide
contamination and modern issues of concern to beekeepers and craftspeople
working with beeswax. But while 25 years old it's the best introduction to
beeswax I've read, by far preferable to Thomas William Cowan's quaint 1908 book
"Wax Craft", a defective reprint edition of which has recently been published.

BeeswaxMay 16, 2010

ByG. Roberts﻿

Beeswax is such a technical product to work with, Beeswax:
Production, Harvesting, Processing and Products, is a fantastic guide and
reference for anyone wanting to research this raw product and how to use and
work with it. Fantastic informative book.

A great overview.June 20, 2012

ByStill learning NZ

Well written and researched. If you are interested in
this topic then you wont be disappointed with this book. It gives a broad
overview with some useful information.

Tuesday, 3 July 2012

Always secure a taper candle in an appropriate taper holder for support while burning. This is crucial as an unfit holder can cause the candle falls down and catch a fire.

You can use beeswax fitter strips if your taper
candle seems loose in the selected taper holder. If
the candle is larger and does not fit in the taper holder, try to keep its
bottom in warm water for a while until it starts to soften. Then, try to
put it again carefully in the holder.

Choose an appropriate tool such as a candle snuffer to extinguish the flame for smokeless effect.

It is recommended to burn a pillar candle on a pillar plate or suitable pillar holder.

Use pillar candle in smaller diameter if long burning time is not required. Keep burning a large pillar within short moments will not allow the candle to burn properly to its side and will only shorten its overall burn time.

Allow at least an hour of burn time for every inch in diameter of the pillar candle. For instance, a 4 inch pillar should be burned about 4 hours or longer.

Hug the burning pillar occasionally if tunneling is not desired. Simply push the edges softly towards the center of the pillar. (Tunneling is a condition when thick walls are left owing to the flame burns down the center of the candle)

Always let a pillar initially burns long until the wax melts extending to its full diameter to prevent tunneling, then you may discontinue the burning. It is better to burn a candle intermittently, compared to burning it continuously as it will burn longer in former condition.

To extinguish the flame from a pillar candle, best using a wick dipper or suitable metal tool to dip the wick into the melted wax pool before straighten the wick vertically. This approach can eliminate unwanted smoke and wax splattering.

It is the best to use a lighter to provide the fire source to the base of the wick if relighting is desired. By this way, the beeswax attached to the wick will melt thoroughly and the candle will burn well again.

Only use suitable size and heat resistant votive candle holder to hold a votive candle. The holder should fit for the votive candle without leaving much space in between because the candle will spill out when it burns and fills the holder.

Avoid using thick glass holder for your votive candle. This may results an imperfect burn due to the insufficiency of heat from the candle.

Before burning, always fill a votive candle holder with a few drops of water first and followed by placing the candle in order to fasten the process of cleaning the remaining beeswax, left by burned out candle in the holder. Meanwhile, this approach can ensure the votive glass holder will not overheating.

Never burn a votive candle in the holder that air flow is restricted due to the fact that beeswax candles burns hotter than other candles.

Burn a votive candle about an hour or longer each time it is used to ensure the beeswax melts extending to the edge of the holder.

Let it burned out by itself when the candle only remains ½ inch height.

Same like pillars candles, a votive candle can be extinguished easily by pushing the wick into the melted wax pool before straighten the wick vertically.